Slow down and go deep

Winter trout can be sluggish but worth the effort

Spring is undoubtedly the ideal trout-fishing season, but trout fishing in the winter also has its merits. What most winter anglers discover is that they catch fewer, but larger, fish. The keys to successful winter fishing are to use a slow hand and fish with more nymphs and fewer dry flies.

“You have to slow your presentation and concentrate on the slower water in the deeper sections of a pool,” said Roger Lowe of Waynesville, a guide for Brookings Outfitters in Cashiers.

“Nymphs are the best flies to use from now until spring,” he said, believing the best fishing will be during the warmest part of the day, usually between noon and 2 p.m. when the sun is on the water.

With fewer hatches coming off, nymphs are the type of food that trout, particularly large trout, see and prefer. Lowe said he often uses a dry fly such as a Royal Wulff as a strike indicator and a beadhead nymph as a dropper.

“The nymph should be small enough so that it doesn’t drag the dry fly down,” said Lowe, who uses a No. 12 or larger dry fly for a No. 16 or No. 14 nymph.

Lowe ties a section of leader to the shank of the dry fly so that the dropper dangles about a foot below. He fishes the nymph close to the bottom of a pool or a run.

“You have to remember that everything slows down in the winter,” he said. “Strikes will be more subtle, sometimes little more than a slight hesitation of the line.”

A technique used by many guides is to fish upstream, letting the nymph dead-drift to the bottom, and then stripping it in short spurts. If you see a trout following the fly but not taking it, jerk the line. That will make the trout think that the nymph is trying to escape, and he’ll usually strike.”

Willie Cope of Sylva, who guides mostly on Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams, said dead-drifting can be very productive this time of year.

Using a strike indicator, Cope suspends a nymph 3 to 6 inches above the bottom of a stream bed and lets the fly drift through runs and riffles.

“Pay close attention to the drag and the effects it has on your drift,” he said. “The less drag, the better you’ll do. This is where mending line really comes into play.”

Lowe said he uses bigger nymphs in the winter, Nos. 10, 8 even a 6.

“I’ll cast a large nymph such as a Woolly Booger across the current. When the line straightens out, I lower the rod tip and work the nymph through the water in short strips. It’s important to keep the rod tip down so that the nymph will stay deep,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to keep casting to the same place to get a strike. Keep your presentation slow to give the trout more time to study the fly.”

Kevin Howell of Davidson River Outfitters near Brevard agrees that the most effective method of nymph fishing is to get the nymph down deep. “Sometimes you have to put the fly right in the trout’s face to get him to hit,” said Howell, who uses a weighted nymph rather than a beadhead and bumps the nymph along the bottom of a pool.

“Some anglers add weight to the leader, putting lead weight about 6 inches above the fly for a yo-yo effect,” he said. “I prefer to crimp the weight right on top of the fly. That gets it down to the bottom.”

Winter fishing also can be frustrating because trout will suddenly turn off, and nothing you throw to them will get a strike.

“Weather, more than anything else, dictates the quality of fishing,” Lowe said, “and the time of day when you’re fishing is more important than the pattern you use.” Once the sun drops below the tree tops, water temperature drops quickly, and trout hunker in to wait out the cold.

Fronts and barometric pressure also play an important role in successful fishing. Fishing can be very productive just before a front moves in and lousy after the front arrives. Water temperature also is a factor. The ideal water temperature range for rainbow and brown trout is 44 to 75 degrees, and 44 to 70 degrees for brook trout.

Not all winter fishing is limited to nymphs, however. Warm, sunny winter days can produce small but productive hatches of midges and Blue-Winged Olives, which can be found on mountain streams almost any time of the year.

For winter dry-fly fishing, patterns should be small, nothing larger than a No. 18. Suggested nymph patterns include Zug Bug, Hare’s Ear Woolly Booger, Secret Weapon, rubber-legged Girdlebug, Prince, Pheasant Tail and Stickbait.

Weather sharps predict a cold and snowy winter. The mountains had its first snow on Oct. 31, not a good sign. The good part is that no matter how much snow we have or how cold it gets, we always have those warm, sunny days to get on a stream.